Visualizing Remittance Flows & GDP Impact By Country

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the flow of global immigration by 27%.

And, as Visual Capitalist’s Richie Lionell details below, alongside it, travel restrictions, job losses, and mounting health concerns meant that many migrant workers couldn’t send money in the form of remittances back to families in their home countries.

This flow of remittances received by countries dropped by 1.5% to $711 billion globally in 2020. But over the next two years, things quickly turned back around.

As visa approvals restarted and international borders opened, so did international migration and global remittance flows.

In 2021, total global remittances were estimated at $781 billion and have further risen to $794 billion in 2022.

In these images, Richie Lionell uses the World Bank’s KNOMAD data to visualize this increasing flow of money across international borders in 176 countries.

Why Do Remittances Matter?

Remittances contribute to the economy of nations worldwide, especially low and middle-income countries (LMICs). 

They have been shown to help alleviate poverty, improve nutrition, and even increase school enrollment rates in these nations. Research has also found that these inflows of income can help recipient households become resilient, especially in the face of disasters.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that these transfers aren’t a silver bullet for recipient nations. In fact, some research shows that overreliance on remittances can cause a vicious cycle that doesn’t translate to consistent economic growth over time.

Countries Receiving the Highest Remittances

For the past 15 years, India has consistently topped the chart of the largest remittance beneficiaries.

With an estimated $100 billion in remittances received, India is said to have reached an all-time high in 2022.

This increasing flow of remittances can be partially attributed to migrant Indians switching to high-skilled jobs in high-income countries—including the U.S., the UK, and Singapore—from low-skilled and low-paying jobs in Gulf countries.

Rank	Remittance Inflows by Country	2022 (USD)
1	India	$100,000M
2	Mexico	$60,300M
3	China	$51,000M
4	Philippines	$38,000M
5	Egypt, Arab Rep.	$32,337M
6	Pakistan	$29,000M
7	France	$28,520M
8	Bangladesh	$21,000M
9	Nigeria	$20,945M
10	Vietnam	$19,000M
11	Ukraine	$18,421M
12	Guatemala	$18,112M
13	Germany	$18,000M
14	Belgium	$13,500M
15	Uzbekistan	$13,500M
16	Morocco	$11,401M
17	Romania	$11,064M
18	Dominican Republic	$9,920M
19	Indonesia	$9,700M
20	Thailand	$9,500M
21	Colombia	$9,133M
22	Italy	$9,000M
23	Nepal	$8,500M
24	Spain	$8,500M
25	Honduras	$8,284M
26	Poland	$8,000M
27	Korea, Rep.	$7,877M
28	El Salvador	$7,620M
29	Lebanon	$6,841M
30	Israel	$6,143M
31	United States	$6,097M
32	Russian Federation	$6,000M
33	Serbia	$5,400M
34	Brazil	$5,045M
35	Japan	$5,000M
36	Portugal	$4,694M
37	Ghana	$4,664M
38	Jordan	$4,646M
39	Czech Republic	$4,539M
40	Haiti	$4,532M
41	Ecuador	$4,468M
42	Georgia	$4,100M
43	Kenya	$4,091M
44	Croatia	$3,701M
45	Peru	$3,699M
46	Sri Lanka	$3,600M
47	West Bank and Gaza	$3,495M
48	Jamaica	$3,419M
49	Armenia	$3,350M
50	Tajikistan	$3,200M
51	Nicaragua	$3,126M
52	Kyrgyz Republic	$3,050M
53	Senegal	$2,711M
54	Austria	$2,700M
55	Switzerland	$2,631M
56	Sweden	$2,565M
57	United Kingdom	$2,501M
58	Hungary	$2,404M
59	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$2,400M
60	Slovak Republic	$2,300M
61	Moldova	$2,170M
62	Azerbaijan	$2,150M
63	Tunisia	$2,085M
64	Zimbabwe	$2,047M
65	Luxembourg	$2,000M
66	Netherlands	$2,000M
67	Myanmar	$1,900M
68	Algeria	$1,829M
69	Albania	$1,800M
70	Somalia	$1735M
71	Congo, Dem. Rep.	$1,664M
72	Malaysia	$1,620M
73	Kosovo	$1,600M
74	Denmark	$1,517M
75	Latvia	$1,500M
76	Bolivia	$1,403M
77	Belarus	$1,350M
78	Cambodia	$1,250M
79	Bermuda	$1,200M
80	South Sudan	$1,187M
81	Uganda	$1,131M
82	Mali	$1,094M
83	South Africa	$1,019M
84	Sudan	$1,013M
85	Argentina	$966M
86	Montenegro	$920M
87	Finland	$880M
88	Bulgaria	$850M
89	Slovenia	$800M
90	Australia	$737M
91	Madagascar	$718M
92	Turkey	$710M
93	Canada	$700M
94	Lithuania	$700M
95	Togo	$668M
96	Greece	$665M
97	Costa Rica	$654M
98	Estonia	$626M
99	Qatar	$624M
100	Iraq	$624M
101	Gambia, The	$615M
102	Tanzania	$609M
103	Norway	$600M
104	Panama	$596M
105	Burkina Faso	$589M
106	Hong Kong SAR, China	$571M
107	Paraguay	$554M
108	Mozambique	$545M
109	Niger	$534M
110	Cyprus	$527M
111	Lesotho	$527M
112	Mongolia	$500M
113	Rwanda	$469M
114	Fiji	$450M
115	North Macedonia	$450M
116	Guyana	$400M
117	Cabo Verde	$375M
118	Kazakhstan	$370M
119	Cameroon	$365M
120	Cote d’Ivoire	$360M
121	Liberia	$351M
122	Afghanistan	$350M
123	Ethiopia	$327M
124	Samoa	$280M
125	Mauritius	$279M
126	Saudi Arabia	$273M
127	Malta	$271M
128	Malawi	$267M
129	Zambia	$260M
130	Tonga	$250M
131	Comoros	$250M
132	Ireland	$249M
133	Suriname	$221M
134	Benin	$209M
135	Lao PDR	$200M
136	Timor-Leste	$185M
137	Sierra Leone	$179M
138	Guinea-Bissau	$178M
139	Trinidad and Tobago	$172M
140	Mauritania	$168M
141	Iceland	$164M
142	Eswatini	$148M
143	Belize	$142M
144	Curacao	$131M
145	Uruguay	$127M
146	Chile	$78M
147	Vanuatu	$75M
148	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	$70M
149	Grenada	$69M
150	Botswana	$56M
151	St. Lucia	$55M
152	Bhutan	$55M
153	Djibouti	$55M
154	Dominica	$52M
155	Burundi	$50M
156	Aruba	$44M
157	Namibia	$44M
158	Guinea	$41M
159	Solomon Islands	$40M
160	Oman	$39M
161	Antigua and Barbuda	$35M
162	St. Kitts and Nevis	$33M
163	Marshall Islands	$30M
164	Kuwait	$27M
165	New Zealand	$25M
166	Macao SAR, China	$17M
167	Angola	$16M
168	Kiribati	$15M
169	Cayman Islands	$14M
170	Sao Tome and Principe	$10M
171	Seychelles	$9M
172	Maldives	$5M
173	Gabon	$4M
174	Palau	$2M
175	Papua New Guinea	$2M
176	Turkmenistan	$1M
Total	World	$794,059M

Mexico and China round out the top three remittance-receiving nations, with estimated inbound transfers of $60 billion and $51 billion respectively in 2022.

Impact on National GDP

While India tops the list of countries benefitting from remittances, its $100 billion received amounts to only 2.9% of its 2022 GDP.

Meanwhile, low and middle-income countries around the world heavily rely on this source of income to boost their economies in a more substantive way. In 2022, for example, remittances accounted for over 15% of the GDP of 25 countries.

Rank	Remittance Inflows by Country	% of GDP (2022)
1	Tonga	49.9%
2	Lebanon	37.8%
3	Samoa	33.7%
4	Tajikistan	32.0%
5	Kyrgyz Republic	31.2%
6	Gambia, The	28.3%
7	Honduras	27.1%
8	South Sudan	24.8%
9	El Salvador	23.8%
10	Haiti	22.4%
11	Nepal	21.7%
12	Jamaica	21.2%
13	Lesotho	21.0%
14	Somalia	20.6%
15	Comoros	20.1%
16	Nicaragua	19.9%
17	Guatemala	19.8%
18	Armenia	18.9%
19	West Bank and Gaza	18.5%
20	Cabo Verde	18.2%
21	Kosovo	17.3%
22	Uzbekistan	17.0%
23	Georgia	16.2%
24	Moldova	15.4%
25	Montenegro	15.0%
26	Ukraine	13.8%
27	Marshall Islands	11.0%
28	Guinea-Bissau	10.9%
29	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10.1%
30	Albania	9.8%
31	Senegal	9.8%
32	Jordan	9.6%
33	Philippines	9.4%
34	Fiji	9.2%
35	Liberia	9.0%
36	Dominican Republic	8.8%
37	Dominica	8.6%
38	Serbia	8.6%
39	Togo	7.9%
40	Morocco	7.9%
41	Pakistan	7.7%
42	Vanuatu	7.6%
43	Timor-Leste	7.5%
44	Suriname	7.3%
45	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	7.3%
46	Kiribati	7.2%
47	Egypt, Arab Rep.	6.8%
48	Ghana	6.1%
49	Mali	5.9%
50	Grenada	5.8%
51	Zimbabwe	5.3%
52	Croatia	5.3%
53	Belize	5.3%
54	Sri Lanka	4.8%
55	Madagascar	4.7%
56	Vietnam	4.5%
57	Bangladesh	4.5%
58	Tunisia	4.5%
59	Cambodia	4.4%
60	Sierra Leone	4.3%
61	Mexico	4.2%
62	Nigeria	4.1%
63	Rwanda	3.8%
64	Ecuador	3.8%
65	Latvia	3.6%
66	Romania	3.6%
67	Niger	3.6%
68	Kenya	3.5%
69	Bolivia	3.2%
70	Burkina Faso	3.2%
71	Myanmar	3.1%
72	North Macedonia	3.1%
73	Mongolia	3.1%
74	Eswatini	3.1%
75	Azerbaijan	3.0%
76	Mozambique	3.0%
77	St. Kitts and Nevis	2.9%
78	India	2.8%
79	St. Lucia	2.7%
80	Guyana	2.6%
81	Colombia	2.6%
82	Congo, Dem. Rep.	2.6%
83	Solomon Islands	2.4%
84	Luxembourg	2.4%
85	Mauritius	2.4%
86	Sudan	2.3%
87	Uganda	2.3%
88	Malawi	2.3%
89	Belgium	2.2%
90	Sao Tome and Principe	2.0%
91	Afghanistan	2.0%
92	Slovak Republic	2.0%
93	Antigua and Barbuda	2.0%
94	Bhutan	2.0%
95	Cyprus	1.9%
96	Portugal	1.8%
97	Thailand	1.7%
98	Belarus	1.6%
99	Mauritania	1.6%
100	Estonia	1.6%
101	Malta	1.5%
102	Peru	1.5%
103	Czech Republic	1.5%
104	Djibouti	1.4%
105	Burundi	1.3%
106	Paraguay	1.3%
107	Hungary	1.3%
108	Slovenia	1.2%
109	Aruba	1.2%
110	Lao PDR	1.2%
111	Benin	1.1%
112	Israel	1.1%
113	Poland	1.1%
114	Lithuania	1.0%
115	France	1.0%
116	Bulgaria	0.9%
117	Algeria	0.9%
118	Zambia	0.9%
119	Costa Rica	0.9%
120	Palau	0.8%
121	Panama	0.8%
122	Cameroon	0.8%
123	Tanzania	0.7%
124	Indonesia	0.7%
125	Spain	0.6%
126	Iceland	0.5%
127	Trinidad and Tobago	0.5%
128	Austria	0.5%
129	Cote d’Ivoire	0.5%
130	Seychelles	0.4%
131	Korea, Rep.	0.4%
132	Italy	0.4%
133	Germany	0.4%
134	Sweden	0.4%
135	Denmark	0.3%
136	Malaysia	0.3%
137	Namibia	0.3%
138	Switzerland	0.3%
139	Finland	0.3%
140	Botswana	0.3%
141	Greece	0.2%
142	Ethiopia	0.2%
143	Qatar	0.2%
144	Russian Federation	0.2%
145	Brazil	0.2%
146	China	0.2%
147	South Africa	0.2%
148	Iraq	0.2%
149	Guinea	0.2%
150	Netherlands	0.2%
151	Uruguay	0.1%
152	Kazakhstan	0.1%
153	Hong Kong SAR, China	0.1%
154	Argentina	0.1%
155	Norway	0.1%
156	Japan	0.1%
157	Maldives	0.08%
158	Turkey	0.08%
159	United Kingdom	0.07%
160	Macao SAR, China	0.07%
161	Ireland	0.05%
162	Australia	0.04%
163	Oman	0.04%
164	Saudi Arabia	0.03%
165	Chile	0.02%
166	United States	0.02%
167	Gabon	0.02%
168	Kuwait	0.01%
169	Angola	0.01%
170	New Zealand	0.01%
171	Papua New Guinea	0.01%
172	Turkmenistan	0.001%

Known primarily as a tourist destination, the Polynesian country of Tonga banks on remittance inflows to support its economy. In 2022, the country’s incoming remittance flows were equal to almost 50% of its GDP.

Next on this list is Lebanon. The country received $6.8 billion in remittances in 2022, estimated to equal almost 38% of its GDP and making it a key support to the nation’s shrinking economy.